Chaplain Kagao Shunin

← To Part 7

The Truck to the Fourth Gate

　Right outside my room, the fourteen Japanese who had already been summoned stood firmly shackled with iron handcuffs, still in their wooden clogs, dejected.

　I felt the blood drain from my body. By the time I went outside and made my way to the Warden, the fourteen condemned men had already been put on a truck and carried out through the Fourth Gate.

　Dr. Nelson and I rode in Warden Bunye’s jeep and followed right behind.

　The truck passed through the building, located directly opposite the prison’s main gate, where the electric chair used to execute Filipino prisoners had been installed.

　When I got out of the jeep and entered the waiting room, the fourteen Japanese had been made to stand in a line along one wall, while Philippine officials sat in a row at the table on the other side.

　I bowed, and wanted to say something, but the words caught in my throat and nothing came out.

　To me, everyone looked grim, their expressions so tense they seemed unable to breathe.

　Without moving their eyes, heavily, they simply stood there.

　They had keenly sensed what was now bearing down on them and what fate awaited them, and their faces were desperately trying to brush away its shadow.

　What was passing through them on this very day? Probably, from the sheer suddenness of it all, their chests were tight and the blood was rushing back to their heads, and they could barely keep themselves standing.

　No wonder. It is so for anyone, as long as they are human.

　I wanted to hold them in my arms, to press my cheek to theirs, to fling myself at them. Fighting desperately to hold back the feelings welling up within me, I fixed my gaze on each face, as if to bore into it.